Black Americans turned out to vote in the 2012 presidential elections in higher numbers than whites, which reflects a deeply polarizing election in which blacks strongly favored incumbent President Barack Obama.

Census data and exit polling show that whites and blacks will remain the two largest racial groups of eligible voters for the next decade. Last year’s heavy black turnout came despite concerns about the effect of new voter-identification laws on minority voting, outweighed by the desire to re-elect the first black president.

William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, analyzed the 2012 elections for the AP using census data on eligible voters and turnout, along with November’s exit polling. He estimated total votes for Obama and Romney under a scenario where 2012 turnout rates for all racial groups matched those in 2004. Overall, 2012 voter turnout was roughly 58 percent, down from 62 percent in 2008 and 60 percent in 2004. Source

Hillary Clinton’s popularity hit a new high and it seems she will not get any blowback from the Benghazi consulate attack that claimed the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. A new ABC New/Washington Post poll found 57% of voters would back a presidential bid by Hillary Clinton, with just 37% opposed. Hillary Clinton will resign as Secretary of State early next year with a 69% approval rating for her performance. She has a 67% overall favorability rate, which is a new high in her long history of public service to this country. Can you say, Hillary 2016? That could be a very real possibility.

New York magazine’s Gabriel Sherman reports Fox News chief Roger Ailes has benched Karl Rove and Dick Morris for now. Producers must now get permission before booking either of the two men. You will recall Karl Rove had an on-air squabble over the network’s polling analysts calling Ohio for President Obama in the Nov. 6 elections. Dick Morris had predicted a Mitt Romney landslide, which was quite the opposite. Um, Romney got the shellacking. Gabriel Sherman reports the explanation for the benching of both men is that the “election is over.”

President Obama will host Mitt Romney for a private lunch on Thursday at the White House. Um, that’s the closest Mitt Romney will come to being in the White House.

On Thursday, Governor Romney will have a private lunch at the White House with President Obama in the Private Dining Room. It will be the first opportunity they have had to visit since the election. There will be no press coverage of the meeting. Source

Donald Trump has made some ridiculous comments on Twitter, particularly during the 2012 presidential campaign, leading up to the general elections. As much as I can’t stand the man, I would hate for him to stop tweeting at @realDonaldTrump. Well, I took the liberty of compiling the 10 stupidest tweets the carnival barker has sent:

President Obama Finished More Strongly in Deep South Than Any Other Democratic Presidential Candidate. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Judging from President Obama polling well in some red states like South Carolina, Georgia and narrowly losing North Carolina in the presidential election, some parts of the Deep South aren’t as Red as you think. President Obama finished more strongly in the South than any other Democratic presidential candidate in three decades. The Washington Post said that underscores “a fresh challenge for Republicans who rely on Southern whites as their base of national support.”

Washington Post: “Obama won Virginia and Florida and narrowly missed victory in North Carolina. But he also polled as well in Georgia as any Democrat since Jimmy Carter, grabbed 44 percent of the vote in deep-red South Carolina and just under that in Mississippi — despite doing no substantive campaigning in any of those states.”

“Much of the post-election analysis has focused on the demographic crisis facing Republicans among Hispanic voters, particularly in Texas. But the results across other parts of the South, where Latinos remain a single-digit minority, point to separate trends among blacks and whites that may also have big implications for the GOP’s future.”

I would also add that the Republican Party also has another problem — moderates have been squeezed out. It is also quite clear that they won’t get 25 percent of the black vote, but as Henry Barbour (nephew of former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour) said, the party has to figure out how to appeal to those black voters who share their core beliefs. At the same time, the race-baiting from the GOP has to stop if they want to appeal to black and Hispanic voters.

Rev. Franklin Graham, like Mitt Romney, is wearing out his welcome. He is now saying Mitt Romney lost the presidential election because the majority of Christians didn’t go out to vote. Um, really? I’m a Christian and I voted for Barack Obama.

Franklin Graham told David Brody: “We know that from of the statistics that I’ve heard that the majority of Christians in this country just did not vote for whatever reason. The vast majority of evangelicals did not go to the polls. God is in control, and if Christians are upset, they need to be upset at themselves. We need to do a better job of getting our people- the church to vote. Now, I’m not trying to tell you how to vote, you can vote, but vote, my goodness, and vote for candidates that stand for Biblical values.”

First Read: “But Graham’s assertion — and implication that had white Christian evangelicals just showed up in bigger numbers, President Obama would have lost — is off base. In fact, white evangelicals/born-again Christians made up the same percentage of the electorate as they did in 2008 – 26%. They voted for Mitt Romney, a devout Mormon, by a wider margin than they did for Sen. John McCain four years ago.”

Mitt Romney: Obama Won Because of “Gifts” He Gave Blacks, Hispanics and Young Voters(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I can’t even put this into words, so I will just excerpt the Los Angeles Times article on Mitt Romney’s comments that President Obama won reelection because of the “gifts” he gave blacks, Hispanic and young voters during his first term:

Mitt Romney told his top donors Wednesday that his loss to President Obama was a disappointing result that neither he or his top aides had expected, but said he believed his team ran a “superb” campaign with “no drama,” and attributed his rival’s victory to “the gifts” the administration had given to blacks, Hispanics and young voters during Obama’s first term.

Obama, Romney argued, had been “very generous” to blacks, Hispanics and young voters. He cited as motivating factors to young voters the administration’s plan for partial forgiveness of college loan interest and the extension of health coverage for students on their parents’ insurance plans well into their 20s. Free contraception coverage under Obama’s healthcare plan, he added, gave an extra incentive to college-aged women to back the president.

Well, he had better call Cornel West, Tavis Smiley and Boyce Watkins up, because they would beg to differ on those gifts Obama gave blacks.

LA Gov. Bobby Jindal: GOP Mustn’t be Party that Simply Protects the Rich So They Keep Their Toys. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything. We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys.”

When President Obama won his historic election in 2008, gun sales increased in record numbers. Well, the same trend is heating up in after his reelection Tuesday. According to data released by the FBI, in October, the number of firearms background checks performed on potential gun buyers across the U.S. increased 18.4%. The number of applications for gun ownership is considered an indicator for future gun sales. Experts believe the spike in applications is linked to nervousness that the Obama administration might try to tighten gun control laws. In 2008, after President Obama was first elected, the FBI conducted 12.7 million background checks for that year alone, compared to 11.2 million in 2007, a 13.4% increase.